Tamar Braxton 1977-99: Early life and career beginnings When did she start singing? Sisters Toni, Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar Braxton signed their first record deal with Arista Records in 1989.
How long were they with Arista Records
How long was Tamar Braxton with Arista Records?
Tamar Estine Braxton was born in Severn, Maryland on March 17, 1977 to Michael and Evelyn Braxton. The youngest of the Braxtons' six children, Tamar started singing as a toddler. The Braxton children would eventually enter in their church choir, where their father Michael Braxton was a pastor. Sisters Toni, Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar Braxton signed their first record deal with Arista Records in 1989. In 1990, they released their first single, "Good Life". "Good Life" was unsuccessful only peaking at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. At the time of the single's release, the members' age differences created a problem with marketing. Subsequently, The Braxtons were dropped from Arista Records.  In 1991, during a showcase with L.A. Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who were in the process of forming LaFace Records, Toni Braxton, minus her four sisters, was chosen and signed as the label's first female solo artist. At the time, the remaining members were told that LaFace was not looking for another girl group since it had just signed TLC. After Toni's departure from the group, the remaining Braxtons members became backup singers for Toni's first tour, music videos, and promotional appearances. Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar were featured in the music video for Toni Braxton's third single, "Seven Whole Days", from her self-titled debut album.  In 1993, LaFace Records A&R Vice President, Bryant Reid, signed The Braxtons to LaFace. However, the group never released an album or single for the label. When Reid moved on to work for Atlantic Records, he convinced executives at LaFace to allow him take the group to Atlantic also. It was reported in Vibe magazine that in 1995, Traci Braxton had left the group to pursue a career as a youth counselor. However, it was not confirmed until a 2011 promotional appearance on The Mo'Nique Show, that Traci was not allowed to sign with Atlantic because of her pregnancy at the time.  In 1996, Tamar, Trina, and Towanda returned with a new album entitled So Many Ways, which peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. At the time of its release, Reid told Billboard Magazine, "I had a vision for them then that was about young sophistication with sex appeal." The trio also performed a remixed version of "So Many Ways" with rapper Jay-Z on September 9, 1996 at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. So Many Ways went on to peak at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. Braxton and her fellow The Braxtons members served as the opening act for Toni Braxton on the European Leg of her Secrets Tour in 1997. The Braxtons decided to part ways as a group after lead singer Tamar Braxton left to pursue a solo career with DreamWorks Records in 1998. CANNOTANSWER
Subsequently, The Braxtons were dropped
Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer and television personality.

Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut album, So Many Ways, as a trio in 1996, and disbanded shortly afterward. In 2000, she released her debut self-titled album through DreamWorks Records. Following a thirteen-year break, Braxton released her second studio album, Love and War (2013), through Epic Records, which reached the number two position on the Billboard 200 chart. She later released her fourth and fifth albums, Calling All Lovers (2015) and Bluebird of Happiness (2017), respectively. Braxton has won a BET Award and three Soul Train Music Awards throughout her career. She has also been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

Since 2011, Braxton has starred in the We TV reality television series Braxton Family Values alongside her mother and sisters. She also served as a co-host on the Fox syndicated daytime talk show The Real from 2013 until 2016, for which she received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. In 2019, she won the second season of Celebrity Big Brother.

Life and career

1977–1999: Early life and career beginnings
Tamar Estine Braxton was born to Michael and Evelyn Braxton in Severn, Maryland on March 17, 1977. The youngest of the Braxtons' six children, Braxton started singing as a toddler. The Braxton children would eventually enter in their church choir, where their father Michael Braxton was a pastor. She and her sisters Toni, Traci, Towanda, and Trina, signed their first record deal with Arista Records in 1989. In 1990, they released their first single, "Good Life", which peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. At the time of the single's release, the members' age differences created a problem with marketing. Subsequently, The Braxtons were dropped from Arista Records.

In 1991, during a showcase with L.A. Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who were in the process of forming LaFace Records, Toni Braxton, minus her four sisters, was chosen and signed as the label's first female solo artist. At the time, the remaining members were told that LaFace was not looking for another girl group since it had just signed TLC. After Toni's departure from the group, the remaining Braxtons members became backup singers for Toni's first tour, music videos, and promotional appearances. She and her sisters Traci, Towanda, and Trina were featured in the music video for Toni Braxton's third single, "Seven Whole Days", from her self-titled debut album.

In 1993, LaFace Records A&R Vice President, Bryant Reid, signed The Braxtons to LaFace. However, the group never released an album or single for the label. When Reid moved on to work for Atlantic Records, he convinced executives at LaFace to allow him to take the group to Atlantic also. It was reported in Vibe magazine that in 1995, Traci Braxton had left the group to pursue a career as a youth counselor. However, it was not confirmed until a 2011 promotional appearance on The Mo'Nique Show, that Traci was not allowed to sign with Atlantic because of her pregnancy at the time.

In 1996, Tamar, Trina, and Towanda returned with a new album entitled So Many Ways, which peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. At the time of its release, Reid told Billboard magazine, "I had a vision for them then that was about young sophistication with sex appeal." The trio also performed a remixed version of "So Many Ways" with rapper Jay-Z on September 9, 1996 at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. So Many Ways went on to peak at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. Braxton and her fellow group members served as the opening act for Toni Braxton on the European Leg of her Secrets Tour in 1997. The Braxtons decided to part ways as a group after Braxton left to pursue a solo career with DreamWorks Records in 1998.

2000–2009: Tamar and label troubles
Later, Braxton met Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. She recorded her solo debut album, Ridiculous, so-named for the many different musical styles on the album. The album spawned two buzz singles ("Let Him Go" and "Just Cuz") in hopes of garnering attention from the public eye; however, when the songs failed to gain impact on urban radio outlets, the album was pushed back and canceled. That same year, Braxton was featured on Sole's, "4 The Love of You." Instead of shelving the album, Dreamworks Records abandoned 3 old tracks, added new ones, and renamed it Tamar. The lead single "Get None" was produced by Jermaine "J.D." Dupri and also featured rap verses from him as well as former Jay-Z protégée Amil. The song also included uncredited background vocals and songwriting by R&B singer Mýa. As soon as the song began to pick up airplay, Braxton announced the album would be released in early 2000, alongside a second single, "If You Don't Wanna Love Me". The album featured production from Missy Elliott, Tim & Bob, and Tricky Stewart, but still peaked at number 127 on the Billboard 200. When the album's second single failed to gain significant radio airplay, her label dropped her from their roster.
 
In 2001, Braxton's previously unreleased song "Try Me" appeared on the soundtrack album for the film Kingdom Come. She also began to work alongside her sister Toni Braxton in a number of songs and music video cameos, including the video for "He Wasn't Man Enough." She performed, co-wrote and sang background vocals on songs for Toni's albums, The Heat (2000), Snowflakes (2001), More than a Woman (2002), Libra (2005) and Pulse (2010). When her sister launched her Las Vegas revue Toni Braxton: Revealed, Braxton again sang backup until she was replaced by singer Sparkle.

By 2004, Braxton was signed to Tommy Mottola's reactivated Casablanca Records and began work on her second album. A "Grindin'"-influenced single, "I'm Leaving," was released with a guest appearance from Bump J. alongside promotional remixes featuring Sheek Louch, Styles P. and Ali Vegas.

2010–2013: Television debut and Love and War

In 2010, Braxton signed to Universal Records, where she released a single "The Heart In Me" in July of that year which was included on the Adidas 2: The Music compilation. Her momentum with Universal would not rise to a satisfactory level to launch a second album. In January 2010, We TV confirmed that it had signed Braxton and her mother and sisters for a reality television series titled Braxton Family Values. The show premiered on April 12, 2011. On December 15, 2011, it was confirmed that Braxton and her husband Vincent would star in their own reality series centered on her solo career and their married life. In November 2011, Braxton performed "Love Overboard" at the 2011 Soul Train Awards for Lifetime Achievement recipient Gladys Knight. In September 2012, news broke that Braxton had inked a fresh recording contract with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records founded by Vincent. Later that month, her reality television show Tamar & Vince premiered on We TV.

Braxton was the featured model for the "Front Row Couture" collection during the "ELLE/Style360" NYC Fashion Week event. Braxton was a co-host of Tameka Cottle's late night talk show, Tiny Tonight, on VH1. Basketball Wives star Tami Roman became a co-host after Braxton. Later, she hosted The Culturelist, a show on BET's sister channel Centric. Former Destiny's Child member LeToya Luckett became the host after her. Braxton announced she was pregnant with her first child on March 13, 2013, during an interview on Good Morning America promoting the new season of Braxton Family Values. She gave birth to a son, Logan Vincent Herbert, on June 6, 2013.

In March 2013, it was revealed that Braxton had signed to Epic Records ahead of the release of her second album, Love and War. The album's lead single, the title track, was released on December 6, 2012. The song was a commercial success, spending 9 weeks at #1 on the Adult R&B Songs chart. Although the single reached number one on the US iTunes chart, it peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Braxton released "The One" as the second single from Love and War on May 7, 2013; it peaked at number 34 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third single, "All the Way Home," was released August 21, 2013; it peaked at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 37 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song was followed by the release of Love and War on September 3, 2013. The album was a commercial success in the United States, selling 114,000 copies in its opening week, and debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Outside the US, it debuted at number 34 on the UK R&B Albums Chart.

In 2013, Braxton became a co-host of the syndicated daytime talk show The Real alongside Adrienne Bailon, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, and Tamera Mowry, which premiered on July 15, 2013. The second season of Tamar & Vince premiered on September 5, 2013. The second season is centered on the preparation and birth of the couple's baby, and her launch of Love and War. Braxton's special Listen Up: Tamar Braxton premiered on Centric in September 2013. Braxton's first Christmas album, Winter Loversland, was released on November 11, 2013; it debuted at number 43 on the Billboard 200 with 8,000 copies sold in its first week. In December 2013, Braxton received three nominations for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards; Best Urban Contemporary Album for Love and War, and Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for its title track.

2014–2018: Studio albums and Dancing with the Stars
On February 25, 2014, the remix of Robin Thicke's single "For the Rest of My Life" which features Braxton, was released as a digital single. Season 3 of Tamar & Vince premiered in October 2014, and it consisted of 10 episodes just like the previous seasons. On October 6, Braxton's new single "Let Me Know" featuring rapper Future peaked at #2 on the Billboard Trending 140 chart, less than an hour after its premiere on Braxton's official SoundCloud account and eventually reached #1 by 12:00 AM October 7. Billboard.com gave the song 4 out of 5 stars in its review of "The Best and Worst Singles of the Week" for the second week of October.

On May 27, 2015, the single "If I Don't Have You" was released. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Adult R&B Songs chart. Braxton's new album, Calling All Lovers, was released on October 2, 2015. The album peaked at number two on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. On September 2, 2015, she was revealed as one of the celebrities who would be competing on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with reigning champion, Valentin Chmerkovskiy. On November 11, Braxton revealed that she would have to withdraw from the competition due to health problems. Braxton and Chmerkovskiy finished in fifth place overall.

In October 2015, the group The Braxtons, including all five Braxton sisters, released a holiday album titled Braxton Family Christmas. On November 21, Braxton Family Christmas debuted at number 27 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, number 10 on the US R&B Chart and number 12 on US Top Holiday Albums on November 21, 2015. The album charted at number 4 on the US Heatseekers Albums on December 12, 2015. On December 7, 2015, Braxton received one Grammy nomination for "If I Don't Have You" at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; Best R&B Performance from her latest album titled Calling All Lovers.

In May 2016, Braxton departed The Real. The following month, it was announced on The Steve Harvey Morning Show that Steve Harvey had signed Braxton to produce her own talk show and television series with East 112th Street Productions. In April 2017, it was announced that Braxton left Epic Records to sign with Entertainment One for a $1 million deal with the label. On April 27, 2017, Braxton released "My Man" from her fifth album, Bluebird of Happiness. The song peaked at number three on the US Adult R&B Songs Billboard. Bluebird of Happiness was released on September 29, 2017, through Logan Land Records and Entertainment One, with "Blind" released as its second single. The album reached the top of the Billboard independent chart.

On March 23, 2018, Braxton and sister Towanda guest starred on their sister Toni's music video "Long as I Live". In the same year, she appeared on Hip Hop Squares. On March 28, 2018, Braxton was featured on the Todrick Hall title "National Anthem", from his album Forbidden. That same year, Braxton co-starred in the stage play Redemption of a Dogg opposite Snoop Dogg. In Parallel, she was featured on the song "Lions And Tigers And Bears", from the Todrick Hall musical Straight Outta Oz.

2019–present: Television ventures
In 2019, Braxton appeared as a contestant in the second season of the American reality television series Celebrity Big Brother. The show premiered on CBS on January 21, 2019 and concluded on February 13, 2019. She went on to win the competition and become the first African-American person to win a season of Big Brother in the United States. In Big Brother tradition, Braxton appeared on the American television soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, portraying a character named Chef Chambre. She taped her episode on February 20, 2019. The episode aired on Friday, March 29, 2019.

Braxton starred in the film True To The Game 2 alongside Vivica A. Fox, which premiered on April 10, 2020. In support of the film, she released a new song titled "Crazy Kind of Love", produced by Hitmaka, which was officially released on March 20, 2020. In April 2020, it was announced that Braxton would be hosting a reality television series for VH1 entitled To Catch A Beautician; the series premiered in June. In July, Braxton and We TV parted ways, with the network stating that it "will work with her representatives to honor her request to end all future work for the network." The We TV docuseries Tamar Braxton: Get Ya Life!, in which she starred, premiered in September 2020. Braxton has since then been featured on several songs for other artists such as, Mr.P and Elijah Blake. She also announced in early 2021 that she has started back recording music (after announcing retirement in 2017) and would releasing be two albums back to back, with the first slated for release in early 2022.

Artistry
Braxton possesses a five-octave soprano vocal range. She lists Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Kim Burrell, and her eldest sister, Toni, as some of her influences.

Personal life
Braxton is the youngest of her siblings including her sisters Toni, Traci, Towanda, and Trina, as well as her only brother Michael, Jr. On an episode of The Real, she revealed that she suffered from vitiligo. In November 2015, she discovered that she had several pulmonary emboli in her lungs, which forced her to withdraw from her work on Dancing with the Stars. During an interview in October 2020, Braxton stated that she had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

In 2001, Braxton was married to her first husband, music producer Darrell "Delite" Allamby. Allamby was a songwriter and producer who worked with his frequent songwriting partner Lincoln "Link" Browder, as well as Silk, Busta Rhymes and Gerald Levert. The two met while Allamby worked on her 2000 debut album's tracks "Money Can't Buy Me Love" and "Once Again". The couple divorced in 2003 after two years of marriage.

In 2003, Braxton began dating Vincent Herbert, a record executive whom she met through her sister, Toni. The couple married on November 27, 2008. Braxton gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Logan Vincent, in 2013. In October 2017, Braxton filed for divorce from Herbert, citing "irreconcilable differences" and seeking joint custody of their son. Their divorce was finalized in July 2019.

Braxton was in a relationship with financial adviser David Adefeso. On July 16, 2020, Braxton was hospitalized following a suicide attempt. In September 2020, Adefeso filed a restraining order against Braxton for domestic violence.

Discography

Studio albums 
 Tamar (2000)
 Love and War (2013)
 Winter Loversland (2013)
 Calling All Lovers (2015)
 Bluebird of Happiness (2017)

Filmography

Tours
Headlining
2014: Love and War Tour

Opening act
2013: Love in the Future Tour 
2014: Black Panties Tour 
2015: The London Sessions Tour 
2015: Promise To Love Tour 
2017 : Lions And Tigers And Bears 
2017-18: The Great Xscape Tour 
2019 : Welcome To The Dungeon Tour

Awards and nominations

References

External links

 
1977 births
20th-century African-American  women singers
21st-century African-American  women singers
Actresses from Maryland
African-American actresses
African-American Methodists
African-American television personalities
American contemporary R&B singers
American film actresses
American sopranos
American soul singers
American television actresses
African-American television talk show hosts
American television talk show hosts
Big Brother (American TV series) winners
Big Brother (franchise) winners
The Braxtons members
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
People from Severn, Maryland
People with vitiligo
Singers from Maryland
Lawrence "Yogi" Horton, (October 1, 1953June 8, 1987), was an American R&B, funk, jazz and rock drummer. Horton worked and recorded as a session and touring drummer with a wide variety of musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ashford & Simpson, David Byrne, Deborah Harry, Hall & Oates, Diana Ross, Kenny G, The B-52's, and Jean-Michel Jarre among numerous others. His first recording was on Dave "Baby" Cortez's 1972 album Soul Vibration.

Horton recorded an instructional videocassette in 1983, which was released by DCI. Titled "The History of R&B/Funk Drumming", it is considered to be "one of the first instructional type videos of its kind." The video is long out of print, but can still be viewed on YouTube as of March 2021.

Horton, who suffered from bipolar disorder, died on June 8, 1987, when he jumped from a 17th-floor hotel window in New York shortly after performing in a Luther Vandross concert.

Discography

The Catherine Wheel (David Byrne, 1981)
With Lonnie Liston Smith
Dreams of Tomorrow (Doctor Jazz, 1983)
With Gloria Gaynor
 Gloria Gaynor (Atlantic Records, 1982)
With Irene Cara
 Anyone Can See (Network Records, 1982)
With John Lennon and Yoko Ono
 Milk and Honey (Geffen, 1984)
With George Benson
 While the City Sleeps... (Warner Bros. Records, 1986)
With Linda Clifford
 I'll Keep on Loving You (Capitol, 1982)
With Ben E. King
 Street Tough (Atlantic Records, 1981)
With Cheryl Lynn
 Instant Love (Columbia Records, 1982)
 Preppie (Columbia Records, 1983)
With Aretha Franklin
 Jump to It (Arista Records, 1982)
 Get It Right (Arista Records, 1983)
 Who's Zoomin' Who? (Arista Records, 1985)
 Aretha (Arista Records, 1986)
 Through the Storm (Arista Records, 1989)
With Yoko Ono
 It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (Polygram Records, 1982)
With Jean Michel Jarre

 Zoolook (Disques Dreyfus, 1984)

With John Phillips
 Pay Pack & Follow (Eagle Records, 2001)
With Stephanie Mills
 Tantalizingly Hot (Casablanca Records, 1982)
 If I Were Your Woman (MCA Records, 1987)

References

American session musicians
American rock drummers
American funk drummers
African-American drummers
American jazz drummers
American male drummers
1953 births
1987 suicides
20th-century American drummers
Rhythm and blues drummers
Soul drummers
20th-century American male musicians
Suicides by jumping in New York City
People with bipolar disorder
American male jazz musicians
20th-century African-American musicians Arista Records, Inc. () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by Bertelsmann Music Group. Though the label was founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis, Artista in its current form was re-established in 2018. Along with Epic Records, RCA Records, and Columbia Records, Arista is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.

History

Background

After being fired from CBS Records, Clive Davis was recruited by Alan Hirschfield, CEO of Columbia Pictures, in June 1974 to be a consultant for the company's record and music operations. Shortly after his hiring by CPI, Davis became president of Bell Records, replacing the departing Larry Uttal.  Davis's real goal was to reorganize and revitalize Columbia Pictures' music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974, ultimately owning 20 percent of the company. The label was named after Arista, New York City's public secondary school honor society (of which Davis was a member at Erasmus Hall High School). In early 1975, most of the artists who had been signed to Bell were let go, except David Cassidy (who left for RCA Records), Tony Orlando and Dawn (who left for Elektra Records), and the 5th Dimension (which departed for ABC Records). Others, such as Suzi Quatro and Hot Chocolate, were farmed out to the Bell/Arista-distributed label, Big Tree. Several Bell acts, such as Barry Manilow, the Bay City Rollers, and Melissa Manchester continued with Arista. The British Bell label kept that name for a couple of years before changing its name to Arista. The label was mentioned in the 1978 Nick Lowe song "They Called It Rock," in the lyric, "Arista says they love you/But the kids can't dance to this."

Arista signed the Grateful Dead in 1976, and the group released their only Top 40 pop hit, "Touch of Grey", on the label in 1987. In addition to Outlaws, Patti Smith, Eric Carmen, Air Supply, The Kinks, Lou Reed, Alan Parsons and Dionne Warwick, Arista signed Aretha Franklin in 1980, after her long relationship with Atlantic Records ended. The label's most significant acquisition came in 1983 when Davis signed Whitney Houston. Houston would become Arista's biggest-selling recording act and one of the best-selling acts in music history with sales of over 200 million records worldwide, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Subsidiary imprint labels
Arista had an imprint label in the 1970s called Arista Novus, which focused on contemporary jazz artists. It distributed two other jazz labels, Arista Freedom, which specialized in avant-garde jazz and, until 1982, GRP Records, which specialized in contemporary jazz and what came to be known as smooth jazz. A country music division, Career Records, was merged into the Arista Nashville division in 1997. Arista Austin was used in the late 1990s as a country label. Additionally, Arista was the North American distributor of Jive Records from 1981 until 1987. During the 1990s, Arista also distributed Logic, Rowdy and Heavenly Recordings.

Acquisitions, sell-offs
Looking to stave off bankruptcy, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to German-based Ariola Records, a unit of Bertelsmann, in 1979. But after Arista lost $12 million in 1982, Bertelsmann sold a 50% interest in the company to RCA Records in 1983. In 1985, RCA and Bertelsmann merged their music operations to form RCA/Ariola International; RCA owned 75% and Bertelsmann owned the remainder. After General Electric absorbed the RCA Corporation in 1986, GE sold off various RCA assets, including all of its interest in RCA/Ariola to Bertelsmann, and it was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group, though Arista's U.S. releases would not note BMG until 1987.

Into the 1980s, Arista continued its success, including major UK act Secret Affair. Over the years it acquired Northwestside Records, deConstruction Records, First Avenue Records, and Dedicated Records in the UK. In 1989, Arista entered into a joint venture with Antonio "L.A." Reid and Babyface in the creation of LaFace Records, record company of Toni Braxton, Usher, and TLC, which it acquired in 1999. In 1993, Arista also entered into a joint-venture with Sean "Puffy" Combs to form Bad Boy Records. In 1997 Arista acquired Profile Records, the home of Run-D.M.C. and Poor Righteous Teachers.

Milli Vanilli controversy
In 1989, Arista Records signed Milli Vanilli, a contemporary R&B duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its debut album, Girl You Know It's True, which was a remixed and re-edited version of All or Nothing, which had been out in Europe the previous year. The album was certified sextuple platinum in the U.S., and charted five top-ten singles, three of them reaching the number one position. In 1990, Milli Vanilli won two American Music Awards and a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Carol Decker, lead singer of the band T'Pau, was interviewed after their performance on MTV and said that Milli Vanilli had used a Synclavier and were not singing. Later that year, Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli's producer, confirmed that the duo hadn't performed a single note on their album.

This revelation caused a huge firestorm in the music industry, as recording artists, particularly bubble-gum pop acts that heavily relied on electronic processing and over-dubbing (what they referred to as "studio magic"), were now under scrutiny and subsequently forced to cut back on lip-synching to show that they were authentic. Milli Vanilli's Grammy Award was subsequently revoked. Clive Davis promptly released the duo from its contract and deleted the album and its masters from their catalogue—making Girl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to be deleted. A court ruling in the U.S. allowed anyone who had bought the album to get a refund.

In response to the scandal, Arista's position was that the company had been completely unaware of Morvan and Pilatus having not themselves recorded their album. In a post-debacle interview, Morvan defended himself for his part in the deception by saying, "[Before Milli Vanilli] I was working at a McDonald's. What would you have done?"

Reconstructing Arista
At the end of the year 2000, following its 25th anniversary, BMG pushed Davis out as president and CEO. Although Davis was still one of the most successful record heads in the entire music industry, BMG had an age restriction policy. Davis was replaced by L.A. Reid as the company's president and CEO. Under Reid, the label had success with newer acts such as Avril Lavigne, Pink, and Kelis, but struggled with newer releases by more established acts already on the label. Reid seemed to lose focus and have many miscalculations when it came to promoting Arista's established acts such as TLC, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston (Houston being BMG's biggest selling act out of all BMG labels), and several other acts. Reid seemed to put more money in promoting newer acts and less money into promoting established acts. Reid's extravagant spending, meanwhile, and lower sales of big-name established acts under his tenure, caused the company to lose money. After the merger of BMG and Sony Music Entertainment in 2004, Reid was fired. Arista, always an independently managed front line label at BMG, was merged with J Records in August 2005; J Records being the successful label that Clive Davis started after being let go by BMG due to age restrictions. The merged Arista and J record labels began operating under the newly formed RCA Music Group—of which Davis was re-instated as CEO after the merger of BMG and Sony, thus Davis once again became in control of Arista and several other labels from the very company that previously had let him go. The Arista label continued to be used for new releases, although heavily scaled back, while its reissues are released through Sony Music's Legacy Recordings. Also, as a result of the Sony-BMG merger, Arista once again became related to Columbia Pictures, which is fully owned by the Sony Corporation of America (through Sony Pictures Entertainment) - who would buy out BMG's share in 2008.

Dissolution and revival
After the Sony-BMG merger, LaFace Records was eventually revived; the label was now fully owned by Sony-BMG and began operating under the JIVE Label Group.

During the summer of 2011, the RCA Music Group underwent a restructuring that saw the elimination of the Arista name later on that year, along with sister labels J Records and Jive. RCA Records started releasing all RCA Music Group releases under RCA Records. Arista Nashville continued to operate through Sony Music Nashville and was not affected by the closing of Arista Records.

Arista Records France was founded in September 2012, making it initially the last active remnant of the label.

In July 2018, it was announced that Arista would be revived as a frontline label, making it now the fourth flagship record label under Sony Music alongside Columbia, RCA, and Epic. The company has hired former Island Records president/CEO David Massey to lead Arista.

Arista Nashville

In 1989, Arista Records launched Arista Nashville, which specializes in country music artists. Alan Jackson was the first act signed label. In 1995, Arista Nashville launched a subsidiary label known as Career Records, the roster of which at the time included Brett James, Tammy Graham, and Lee Roy Parnell. Currently, Arista Nashville falls under the wing of Sony Music Nashville, hosting such artists as Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Ronnie Dunn and Jerrod Niemann.

Artists

See also
 Arista Records artists
 Arista Nashville
 List of record labels

References

 
Record labels established in 1974
Record labels disestablished in 2011
Re-established companies
American record labels
RCA Records Music Group
Sony subsidiaries
Sony Music
Jazz record labels
Pop record labels
Soundtrack record labels